1. Field of Invention
The present application is in the field of methods and apparatus for establishing a paver surface. The present application is also in the field of methods and apparatus for elevating a paver surface with respect to a subsurface and/or compensating for the slope of the subsurface.
2. Background of the Invention
Frequently, it is desirable to establish a surface above a subsurface. For instance, a surface may be established over a subsurface to, in effect, adjust the aesthetic and/or physical properties of the subsurface. Commonly, such a surface is established via placing an array of pavers onto the subsurface. “Pavers” are, for example, items for covering a subsurface and may include, without being limited to, tiles, stones, bricks, molded concrete, and/or the like. Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the placement of a paver array onto a subsurface.
The aesthetic appearance of a paver surface can depend on the spacing, shape, and orientation of the component pavers. Notably, a surface comprising a tessellated array of pavers will typically be more aesthetically pleasing when the component pavers are evenly and uniformly spaced and oriented. For this reason, there is a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the placement of a paver array onto a subsurface with even and uniform spacing and orientation.
Circumstances exist that may necessitate the leveling and/or elevation of the established paver surface relative to the subsurface. For example, it may be necessary to position and/or level the paver surface above the subsurface in order to: facilitate drainage of the established surface when the component pavers are sensitive to water; provide for air circulation between the surface and the subsurface to prevent the buildup or mold or other residue; or to level the surface above an undesirably irregular or sloped undersurface. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the elevated and leveled placement of a paver array onto a subsurface with even and uniform spacing and orientation.
Various apparatus are known which facilitate the uniformly spaced and oriented placement of a paver array onto a subsurface. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. D259,283 (issued May 19, 1981), 6,702,515 (issued Mar. 9, 2004), and D557,830 (issued Dec. 18, 2007) disclose apparatus featuring four uniformly dimensioned projections which are normal to the paver support surface whereby the projections divide the support surface into quadrants. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,515, FIG. 1. Referring to the same example, the disclosed apparatus, in operation: receive a corner of a square paver within each quadrant until the received pavers abut the projections whereby the received pavers are uniformly spaced; and, orient the pavers via rotating the entire apparatus, typically before the pavers are received, until the received pavers are aligned with the desired paver surface array. While such apparatus are suitable for spacing square pavers, the subject apparatus are not adequate since non-square pavers are often used when constructing a paver surface. Furthermore, shifting the entire apparatus to orient the paver array may be tedious. To improve upon the above mentioned limitations, apparatus are known which feature detachable projections whereby the orientation of the pavers may be manipulated via merely orienting the attachment of the detachable projections. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,951 (issued Sep. 30, 2003) and U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. US2008/0222973 (published Sep. 18, 2008). However, these apparatus designs are still limited and may involve tedious attachment methods. Accordingly, there is still a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the placement of a paver array onto a subsurface with even and uniform spacing and orientation.
Various apparatus are further known which facilitate the elevated placement of a paver array onto a subsurface. Referring once again to U.S. Pat. Nos. D259,283, and 6,702,515 for examples, the disclosed apparatus may elevate a paver surface via stacking a plurality of apparatus in vertical alignment before placing the paver array thereon. While such manner of paver surface elevation may be suitable for incremental increases in surface levels, stacking apparatus in the described manner is limiting of the ultimate height to which the stack may raise the surface since the base apparatus features the same dimensions as the top-most apparatus in the stack. Stacking apparatus to increase paver surface elevation is also limited because the exact adjustment of paver surface height depends on the thickness of the individual apparatus within the stack (i.e., exact adjustment of paver surface height requires multiple apparatus of different thickness or the shaving-off of apparatus thickness). To improve upon the above mentioned limitations, apparatus are known which feature: screw-jack mechanisms (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,223,415 (issued Dec. 14, 1965), 3,318,057 (issued May 9, 1967), 5,588,264 (issued Dec. 31, 1996), and 6,332,292 (issued Dec. 25, 2001); telescoping pedestal (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,397 (issued Feb. 18, 1986)); or central riser units which are measured to an exact desired height (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,471 (issued Feb. 18, 2003)). Screw-jack mechanisms are not completely satisfactory for raising the height of a paver surface since screw jack mechanisms are expensive to fabricate and the surface height cannot be increased beyond two-times the apparatus thickness without the addition of multiple components. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,264, FIG. 4; see also US20080105172 (published May 8, 2008) wherein multiple component screw jacks are combined to increase overall height. A telescoping pedestal is unsatisfactory because it requires the manufacture of different sized levels or complex assembly methods (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,397 wherein a fill is added). Central riser designs are not adequate because accommodations cannot be made for inaccurate measurements or unanticipated changes in desired paver heights. Further, central riser designs are inadequate because such designs often require the existence of multiple distinct components for supporting the central riser, including base and cap members, which are expensive and tedious to fabricate due to the requirement of differing molds or other fabrication tools. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the elevated and leveled placement of a paver array onto a subsurface with even and uniform spacing and orientation.
Various apparatus are yet further known which facilitate the leveled placement of a paver array onto a sloping subsurface. For example, apparatus are known which feature: cooperating twist slope adjustment (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,332,292); concave/convex interacting surfaces (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,057). Twist slope manipulation has not been suitable for compensating for a sloping subsurface because it only allows for slope adjustment at the paver support surface without permitting adjustment at the apparatus base. Concave/convex surface slope compensation is not adequate since the concave/convex surface interactions are relatively frictionless and unstable and therefore require additional components to keep the paver support surface from shifting orientation. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,057, FIG. 2, element 70; see also U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. US2008/0222973, FIGS. 4 and 5, element 132, 134 and 72. Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and related methods which facilitate the elevated and leveled placement of a paver array onto a subsurface with even and uniform spacing and orientation.
Yet still, further drawbacks of the heretofore mentioned apparatus are the non-existence of a single component which may: (1) itself support a paver surface; (2) be stacked upon a like component to raise the height of a paver surface; (3) interact with a like component(s) to change the slope of the paver support surface relative to a sub surface; (4) cooperate with a like component to receive a riser therebetween whereby either of the like components may provide the paver support surface or the assembly base surface; (5) be assembled to multiple like components and a riser, wherein two of said like components define the assembly base and paver support surface, and whereby (i) the paver support surface may be elevated above a subsurface via a combination of the riser and stacked components and (ii) the slope of the elevated paver support surface relative to the subsurface may be manipulated at either the base of the assembly or at the paver support surface; (6) receive an attachment on its paver support surface for orienting and/or uniformly spacing adjacently positioned pavers provided to the component's paver support surface; and (7) receive an attachment(s) on its paver support surface for incrementally raising one or more pavers with respect to another paver to account for discrepancies in paver thickness. In other words, none of the heretofore known apparatus for elevating, leveling, and/or orienting a paver surface disclose a single component for accomplishing the referenced functionalities. On the contrary, apparatus heretofore known for establishing a paver surface require multiple and diverse components while yet only providing a fraction of the referenced functionalities. None of the heretofore known apparatus can adjust for slope, orient and space a paver, vertically support a paver surface while being composed of multiple like components for providing the recited functionalities. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved apparatus for establishing a paver surface without the deficiencies of apparatus which are presently known.